When Death comes Knocking
by astridelta
Summary: SasuNaru one-shot based in the Zabuza/Hidden Mist arc. Rated T for no particular reason for now, may be continued later on.


Just a short SasuNaru one-shot/angst based in the Zabuza that I may, I repeat, _may_ continue depending on my thoughts on the story. I thought of this while listening to "How to Disappear Completely" by Radiohead. It's so beautiful and touching...anyways, enjoy!

* * *

No. _No_. This couldn't be happening! "_NARUTO!_" Sasuke heard his own voice screech somewhere in the back of his mind but...why did his body feel so numb as the orange mass in front of him sunk to the floor...instinctively, his arms shot out, stinging from the needles embedded in his skin, to embrace the limp body that was slowly stilling before him. The masked figure in the mirrors watched impassively as Sasuke stared down at the boy laying in his lap in disbelief. How could he have been too slow?! Sasuke was sure he had calculated how fast he needed to run in order to save Naruto...how could he have screwed it all up...

How could he not save his most precious person.

"Naruto," Sasuke pleaded, a rare occurrence for his normally stoic tone as he tilted Naruto's head back and thankfully seeing those cobalt eyes staring back at him. The blonde coughed, and Sasuke saw a trail of blood appear in the corner of Naruto's mouth. Fear rose like a wave in Sasuke's chest, and he fought desperately to keep it down as needles that were extending from Naruto's back pricked his palms. "Naruto, I'm going to get you to Kakashi, just hang on-" "It appears he won't live long enough for that to happen.." Haku's voice interrupted softly, and Sasuke's head whipped up to glare at the Ice-Style user with pure hatred in his eyes. "You hate me," the brunette noted. Sasuke ignored her in favor of trying to keep Naruto awake, shaking the blonde's shoulders vigorously.

"Naruto, stay awake dammit!" Sasuke yelled. "...Bastard..." Sasuke saw Naruto's mouth move and heard the whispered insult, and he would have smiled if he didn't know what was about to happen. "No, no, this isn't happening," Sasuke murmured. "I can't...I can't watch someone else die in front of me...!" Naruto shifted his arm so his hand rose shakily, reaching for something unseen. Or perhaps it was Sasuke, but the raven would never know. "Don't...die..." Naruto whispered, and Sasuke slowly reached out to grasp the hand that Naruto was extending as it fell back to the cold stone floor of the bridge they were on. The blonde's sky blue eyes glazed over, and his eyelids drooped until his breathing stilled and his body gradually became as cold as the freezing air surrounding the two boys.

Silence encased Sasuke's ears as his world narrowed into the one blonde boy now laying dead in his arms. His eyes trailed the whiskered scars on Naruto's cheeks, following each soft line over and over as if to imprint Naruto's face into his memory. Sasuke bent low over the now lifeless body, gritting his teeth against the flow of angry tears threatening to pour out of him. "This is your first death of a comrade, isn't it?" Haku asked softly, her voice echoing all around Sasuke and...and...

Mocking him.

"It's a shame you couldn't get to him in time. He would have been a fine shinobi." An image of Naruto sitting on a stone step flashed in Sasuke's mind. _"I'm gonna become Hokage and make everyone acknowledge me!"_ Rage consumed Sasuke as he stared, wide-eyed, at Naruto's corpse. "Don't...act like...you know him," Sasuke whispered, and his head whipped up to reveal three black tomoes glowing against the ring of black and bright red and of his fully developed sharnigan. "...A third level Sharnigan," Haku whispered in amazement as Sasuke stood slowly, Naruto in his arms and supporting the blonde's limp head as he slowly pulled a needle out of his own leg, blood dripping from the tip as he extended it towards Haku's image in the mirror in front of him.

"You don't know him," Sasuke growled and, with a flick of his wrist, flung the dagger into Haku's mask, cracking the ice it was reflected on and causing the image to disappear. "Impossible!" Sasuke ran forward, his feet blazing blue with chakra as Haku ran alongside him inside the mirrors that Sasuke had not broken. His eyes followed the brunette's movements, anticipating the needles that were flung his way as he ran through a gap between two empty sheets of ice and into the foggy mist that held Kakashi's form, darting through the dim with a glowing blue chidori in his palm. Sucking in a deep breath, Sasuke looked down at Naruto and brought his hand to the point where the blonde's neck met his head.

A faint pulse greeted his fingers.

"...Kakashi!" Sasuke yelled and ran forward...

Disappearing completely into the fog.

* * *

Zabuza and Haku's broken forms lay behind Sasuke as he gazed down on Naruto's own silent body with hard eyes as Sakura gripped his upper arm tightly. Kakashi knelt in front of the frozen blonde, back stiff as he gently removed Haku's needles from Naruto's corpse, the metal clanging as it struck the stone below them. The sound sickened Sasuke. "...He...he's gonna be...ok, right Sasuke-kun?" Sakura whispered in fear. Sasuke didn't answer, because he was unsure himself if Naruto was going to live. Kakashi murmured something under his breath then, and Sasuke heard the Jonin whisper "Minato-sensei" as his palm grazed Naruto's blonde hair.

The villagers that had defended the bridge were gathered far behind the shinobi, their shifting and murmuring barely reaching Sasuke's ears as memories, echoes of Naruto's voice floated in his head. As he watched Kakashi work on his best friend, Sasuke knew that if Naruto died...there would probably nothing that would stop him from spiraling into the dense black pit of revenge that had consumed him before he had met the blonde...no-one else could save him like Naruto had.

Loud coughing met Sasuke next, and his head whipped up to see Naruto cringing on the ground with Kakashi steadily holding the boy's arms, keeping the blonde pinned gently so he wouldn't worsen the wounds he had received earlier. Wrenching his arm from Sakura's grasp, Sasuke ran forward, aching to cover the distance between himself and Naruto until he fell to his knees next to the blonde's head and on Kakashi's right, the Jonin shifting over as Sasuke reached over Naruto's head until his left hand was pressed against the cold stone next to the blonde's opposite ear and he was leaning over the boy when his cerulean eyes blinked open. "...Sasuke?" Sasuke smirked and didn't fight back the tears that brimmed in his eyes.

"Welcome back, dobe..." Sasuke whispered and leaned forward so his forehead was pressed against Naruto's, his tears dripping onto the blonde's cheeks. "...Great to be back."


End file.
